List Builder: Apollo

15 mins

A skill that builds a clean, verified B2B prospecting list, every firm matched to your exact customer.

QUICK START

Claude Cowork already set up?

›Copy the prompt, paste it into any Cowork chat — Claude fetches the skill, and one click on Save skill installs it. Works in Claude Code too: paste it there and it installs itself, no button needed.
›Always the latest version, straight from the public GitHub repo — and it tells you when a new one is out.

Copy the install prompt See it work →

First time here?

The full setup guide is right below. It only takes a few minutes.

Before you start

If you don't have the Claude desktop app, you'll need it first, so download it here.

Download for Mac Download for Windows

(You'll also need Claude Pro, around $20, and a free Apollo account.)

Part 1 · Claude Cowork setup(5 mins)

Install Cowork

Download the Claude desktop app and sign in on a paid plan. It has to be the desktop app, not the browser, because that is the version that can read your files and connect to your tools.

Open Cowork and give it a folder

Cowork is where Claude actually does work on your computer, not just chat. Get in and point it at one folder:

Open the desktop app and switch to Cowork, the middle of the three modes at the top.
Click New Task, then Work in a Project, then Choose a folder.
Make a fresh, empty folder (I call mine Claude Playground).

Claude only ever sees that one folder, nothing else on your computer, and it uses it to save your lists and your data. It also keeps a dated record of every list it builds, in that same folder, so you can look back at what you targeted. Nothing is sent anywhere, and deleting the ledger folder deletes the lot.

Part 2 · Prospecting List setup(10 mins)

Install the skill

A skill is a saved set of instructions Claude follows every time. Copy this whole box, paste it into a Cowork chat, and Claude fetches the latest version and installs it for you:

This prompt installs List Builder: Apollo, a free sales skill from bingley.ai (published openly on GitHub as bingley-ai/bingley-skills — you can read every file there first). Claude: follow these steps. If any step fails, stop and tell me plainly what failed and what to do next — never improvise a different install method, never create skill content from your own knowledge, and never use a save_skill tool. 0. Check you can do this here: you need shell access, and ideally the present_files tool. Shell but NO present_files means this is Claude Code (the terminal or the Code tab): that is fine, this skill runs there too — install it by copying the folder from step 3 to ~/.claude/skills/list-builder-apollo/ (keep the folder layout, SKILL.md at its top), skip steps 5 to 7, and close with: "Installed to ~/.claude/skills/list-builder-apollo. It's live from your next message — just describe what you want, or type /list-builder-apollo." If you have NEITHER shell nor present_files (this is claude.ai in a browser, or a phone), stop and tell me — in your own words, covering all of this: this install needs the Claude desktop app on a computer; on the computer, go to bingley.ai and press the copy button there (no need to transfer this text); the desktop app is a free download at claude.com/download; in the app, click Cowork at the top, paste, send. If I'm not near a computer, suggest I email myself the bingley.ai link. If shell commands fail with "workspace unavailable", that is different: tell me to restart the Claude app (update it if offered) and paste this prompt again in a new session. 1. Check this session's list of available skills. If list-builder-apollo is installed as a PLUGIN from the bingley-skills marketplace, stop and tell me: "You already have List Builder: Apollo via the plugin, and plugin skills update themselves — nothing to install." If you are not sure whether it's a plugin or a saved skill, continue — updating a saved copy is safe. 2. Download https://github.com/bingley-ai/bingley-skills/archive/refs/heads/main.zip with curl -fL and a 60-second timeout. If the URL arrived mangled (trailing full stop or bracket, smart quotes, a line break), fix it to exactly the form above before retrying once. If it fails with 403 or a timeout, my network is blocking the download: tell me to open that link in my own browser and drag the downloaded zip into this chat, and continue from step 3 with that file. 3. From the zip, extract the folder plugins/list-builder-apollo/skills/list-builder-apollo. Verify SKILL.md and scripts/build_coldlist_dashboard.py are both present (the folder normally has 9 files, counted recursively). If the check fails, delete everything and repeat step 2 once into a fresh folder. If it fails again, stop and tell me: "The files on GitHub don't match what this prompt expects — this install prompt may be out of date. Get the current one at bingley.ai." Never package a folder that failed this check. 4. If I already have a saved (non-plugin) copy of this skill with extra local files in it (such as LOCAL.md), copy those extra files into the new folder now and tell me you preserved them. 5. Zip that folder's CONTENTS into list-builder-apollo.skill with SKILL.md at the top level of the archive, not inside any subfolder. Verify the archive listing shows SKILL.md at the root. 6. Write the file into your outputs folder using your file tools (your shell's temp directory is not visible to me), then present it to me with present_files. (Claude Code users never reach this step — see step 0.) 7. Close with this, in the language I've been writing to you in (keep the button names in English, that is what the buttons say): "Click the Save skill button on the file above (it says Update skill if you already had it). That is the whole install. Afterwards you'll find it under + > Skills in any chat." Add the preservation note from step 4 if it applies. Claude may ask you to approve a step along the way — that's you staying in control; approve what you're comfortable with. Nothing installs until you click Save skill.

Press Copy, then in the Claude desktop app open Cowork, start a New Task, paste, and send. (Computer, not phone. Claude Code works too: paste the same prompt there.)
Claude fetches the skill and shows you a file with a Save skill button — click it. That's the whole install.
Check it worked: click + at the bottom of the chat, then Skills. You should see it listed.

Nothing installs until you click that button, and everything the prompt fetches is public code you can read at github.com/bingley-ai/bingley-skills.

Already installed it before? The same paste updates it and keeps any customisations you've made. Prompt didn't work? Download the skill and drag the file into a Cowork chat, then click Save skill.

Get your Apollo account

Apollo is the biggest B2B contact database out there. The skill uses it to cross-check firms and pull verified emails, so your messages actually land.

Go to apollo.io and sign up for free. Use your work email, no card needed.
Back in Claude: Customize > Connect your apps, find Apollo, log in and approve.

On cost: the skill runs as cheap as possible. Any step that costs money, it stops, shows you the exact price and asks first. My last list of eighty contacts came in under a dollar.

Run it

Open a New Task in your project folder.
Click + > Skills > list-builder-apollo.
Answer the eight questions in plain English: who you sell to, industry, size, location.

Then leave it. Ten to fifteen minutes later an Excel file lands in your folder: every firm, website, LinkedIn, phone, revenue and whether they're growing. That's your list, ready for outreach. Run it again any time you need a fresh one.

Before you finish (quick checks)

›Claude desktop app installed on a paid plan, Cowork open with one folder selected.
›Skill visible under + > Skills.
›Apollo connected.
›Output is an Excel file in your folder.

New How was this skill built? (Click here) ▾

How was this skill built?

Every skill ships only after planning, research, building, testing and re-testing. Here is the record for the list builder.

8 stress-test rounds 6 improvements shipped 7 automated checks

PlanningMapped the operator-only target, the two-round question flow and the free-vs-paid split before writing the skill.

Research & background checksStudied Apollo's API, Companies House data and the spam-gateway and hyperlink traps that quietly wreck a list.

BuildOne skill that vets for free first, then harvests paid data only on your say-so, with the file format locked down.

Testing & re-testingRun and re-run live across 18 real niches. Every failure reproduced, fixed, then re-run.

OrganisationVersioned, with a per-niche master file that dedupes and tracks every run so nothing repeats.

Key strengths

✓Operator-only vetting drops vendors and recruiters, keeps real decision-makers.
✓Cross-checks Apollo, pulls verified emails, flags spam-gateway domains before you send.
✓Never spends a credit without showing the cost and asking first.

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